How to Drink Alcohol and Stay Fit

Believe it or not, many guys out there get into weight lifting so they can have a better social life. When they achieve their desired physique their confidence is high, so they go out and socialize.

Alcohol is a large part of socializing in our current society; most people start drinking and partying in high school. The drinking usually continues into college and even after graduating.

There was even a kid in my middle school who got drunk on the weekends, he was only 13.

If partying is something you do, or something you plan on doing you should be aware of how alcohol can affect your lifting.

Does drinking alcohol make me lose muscle?

Short Answer: No

But there are obviously different types of people who drink.

The guy who only drinks one or two nights a week won’t be in trouble. The guy who drinks everyday is another story.

I must mention that hangovers can definitely affect your gym sessions. You likely won’t desire to go workout if you are too hungover. I’ve lifted plenty of times after a night of heavy drinking and I can definitely say I didn’t have a lot of energy in the gym.

But the other days of the week when I wasn’t drinking, I would workout intensely to make up for the bad workouts.

If you are bulking (trying to gain muscle) drinking in moderation will not hinder your progress.

I’ve seen plenty of guys who drink a lot that are a lot bigger/stronger than me.

You will, however, run into problems if you’re drinking and trying to lose fat at the same time.

Why is it bad to drink while Cutting?

Alcohol contains calories (7 Calories Per Gram), and if you’re dieting you obviously need to be in a calorie deficit.

After a couple shots you might end up over your calorie limit for the day.

Drinking can present a number of problems for someone trying to lose fat. Not only are many drinks full of calories but when you’re drunk you end up drinking even more that you wanted.

And of course, who hasn’t eaten some bad food while they were drunk?

This is why you see so many Pizza/Wings delivery guys on college campuses.

People drink, party, and then get hungry. And when you’re drunk any type of junk food sounds amazing.

Realistically, you get a lot of calories from the drinks themselves and then end up binge eating junk food with friends.

It’s fairly obvious why drinking isn’t ideal for a cutting diet.

What’s the solution?

There are 3 Steps to follow if you still want to drink but still lose weight.

Plan Ahead.Figure out how many drinks you’ll be drinking later. Set a limit on how many you want vs. how many you should have.

Count Calories Beforehand. If you have a daily limit of 2500 calories you should ideally stop eating once you reach 2000. From there you could have roughly 5 shots of vodka. Depending on how much you drink will depend on how many calories you should leave for your evening festivities. Use a calorie counting app to make sure how many calories you have left.

Avoid Peer Pressure.This refers to not only saying no to someone encouraging you to chug a beer, but also saying no if you don’t want to eat badly. Your friends might want to eat badly when they are out drinking and thats pretty normal. But there is nothing wrong with saying “I’m not hungry”. Your friends can’t force you to drink, have some willpower and stand up for yourself if you need to.

If you do these 3 things you’ll be fine for a night out drinking.

It is very easy to say “Fuck it” and have another shot/beer. I’ve done it plenty of times and its definitely hard to say no when you’re drunk.

After you follow these steps a few times you’ll be used to counting your drinks. You should be counting regardless, because you might just end up blacking out because you didn’t realize you already had 13 shots (happened to me).

The Verdict

It won’t hurt you to have a few drinks, especially if you’re trying to gain weight. Just don’t go overboard and end up with a beer belly. As far as dieting, stick to those 3 steps and you’ll be fine. If you’re really serious about your goals you could just cut out alcohol completely.

Yeah you could do extra cardio if you wanted. Maybe on the days you drink you could add a 30 minute cardio session in the morning but even then drinking too much can pretty much screw that up. Even if you burned an extra 300 calories from the cardio, you might end up having 3 or 4 more drinks that would pretty much negate the effect of the cardio because they have a lot of calories.

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